CN115915019A

CN115915019A - Device discovery method and device

Info

Publication number: CN115915019A
Application number: CN202110897345.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李余民; 倪观军; 朱旭东; 连海; 张景云
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-08-05
Filing date: 2021-08-05
Publication date: 2023-04-04
Also published as: WO2023011212A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a device discovery method and device, relates to the technical field of communication, can support various access technologies, meets diversified requirements of different services or the same service on power consumption and bandwidth in different communication scenes, and can support more device discovery modes and device discovery processes and meet scene requirements of more device discovery. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that first equipment obtains request information of first application; the request information is used for indicating the discoverable level of the first device; the first equipment determines an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the first application; the first equipment broadcasts a first message through an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the request information; the first message includes first indication information indicating a discoverable level of the first device.

Description

Device discovery method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a device discovery method and apparatus.

Background

An existing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol architecture may include a host (host), a controller (controller), and a host interface controller (HCI) between the host and the controller. Three device discovery modes are defined in the host: non-discoverable mode, limited discovery mode and general discovery mode, two device discovery processes are also defined in the host: limited discovery procedures and general discovery procedures.

Specifically, a first device configured in any of the above-described device discovery modes may send a broadcast message, and a second device configured in any of the above-described device discovery procedures may scan the broadcast message to discover the first device.

However, the BLE protocol architecture only supports a single BLE access technology, and cannot meet the diversified requirements of different services or the same service on power consumption and bandwidth in different communication scenarios. And the device discovery mode and the device discovery process supported by the BLE protocol architecture are fewer, and the scene requirements of more device discovery cannot be met.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, embodiments of the present application provide a device discovery method and apparatus, which can support multiple access technologies, meet diversified requirements of different services or the same service on power consumption and bandwidth in different communication scenarios, and simultaneously support more device discovery modes and device discovery processes, and meet requirements of more device discovery scenarios.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a device discovery method, which may include: the method comprises the steps that first equipment obtains request information of first application; according to the first application, determining an access technology corresponding to the first application; broadcasting a first message through an access technology corresponding to a first application according to the request information; wherein the request information may be used to indicate a discoverable level of the first device; the first message may include first indication information indicating a discoverable level of the first device.

Based on the first aspect, the first device may dynamically schedule multiple access technologies according to the application, so as to meet diversified requirements of different services or the same service on power consumption and bandwidth in different communication scenarios. Meanwhile, multiple discoverable levels are provided for the first device, more device discovery modes and device discovery processes can be supported, and the scene requirements of more device discovery are met.

In one possible design, the discoverable levels include one or more of the following: device discovery that the device desires to be paired, device discovery that the device desires to be assigned an address or service set identification SSID, device discovery that the device desires to be supported a particular service or capability, device not discoverable, device generally discoverable, device priority discoverable.

Based on the possible design, a plurality of discoverable levels are provided, and the scene requirements discovered by more devices can be met.

In one possible design, the first message further includes one or more of: identification information of the devices that have been paired, a specified address or SSID, a particular service or capability.

In one possible design, the first device determines an access technology corresponding to the first application according to an application requirement and/or a service type of the first application.

Based on the possible design, the first device can dynamically schedule multiple access technologies according to application requirements and/or service types of applications, so as to meet diversified requirements of different services or the same service on power consumption and bandwidth in different communication scenes.

In one possible design, the first message further includes second indication information indicating whether the first message is a polling broadcast message.

In one possible design, when the first message is a polling broadcast message, the first device receives a polling response from the second device; the first device discovers the second device based on the polling response.

Based on the two possible designs, when the first message is a polling broadcast message, the second device may send a polling response to the first device. When the second device is a hidden device (i.e., a device that does not send a broadcast message, but only scans and receives polls), the first device may discover the hidden device based on the poll response sent by the hidden device.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may implement the functions performed by the first device in the above first aspect or the possible designs of the first aspect, and the functions may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software comprises one or more modules corresponding to the functions. Such as a transceiver module and a processing module. The receiving and sending module is used for acquiring request information of the first application; the processing module is used for determining an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the first application; the receiving and sending module is also used for broadcasting a first message through the access technology corresponding to the first application according to the request information; wherein the request information may be used to indicate a discoverable level of the first device; the first message may include first indication information indicating a discoverable level of the first device.

In one possible design, the discoverable levels include one or more of the following: device discovery that the device desires to be paired, device discovery that the device desires to be assigned an address or service set identification SSID, device discovery that the device desires to be supported for a particular service or capability, device not discoverable, device generally discoverable, device preferentially discoverable.

In one possible design, the processing module is further configured to determine an access technology corresponding to the first application according to an application requirement and/or a service type of the first application.

In one possible design, when the first message is a polling broadcast message, the transceiver module is further configured to receive a polling response from the second device; and the processing module is further used for discovering the second equipment according to the polling response.

It should be noted that, for a specific implementation manner of the communication apparatus, reference may also be made to the behavioral function of the first device in the device discovery method provided by the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, and for a technical effect brought by the communication apparatus, reference may also be made to a technical effect brought by any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, which is not described in detail.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a first device or a chip or a system on a chip in the first device. The communication means may implement the functions performed by the first device in each of the above aspects or possible designs, which functions may be implemented in hardware. In one possible design, the communication device may include: a transceiver and a processor. The transceiver and the processor may be for supporting the communication device to perform the functions referred to in the first aspect above or in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect. For example: the transceiver may be configured to acquire request information of a first application; the processor may be configured to determine, according to the first application, an access technology corresponding to the first application; the transceiver can be further used for broadcasting a first message through an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the request information; wherein the request information may be used to indicate a discoverable level of the first device; the first message may include first indication information indicating a discoverable level of the first device. In yet another possible design, the communication device may further include a memory for storing computer-executable instructions and data necessary for the communication device. The transceiver and processor execute the computer executable instructions stored by the memory when the communication apparatus is operating to cause the communication apparatus to perform a device discovery method as described in the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect.

The specific implementation manner of the communication apparatus in the third aspect may refer to the behavior function of the first device in the device discovery method provided by the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a device discovery method, where the method includes: the second equipment acquires a first discovery request of the first application; according to the first application, determining an access technology corresponding to the first application; scanning a first message broadcasted by first equipment through an access technology corresponding to a first application; filtering the first message according to a filtering strategy corresponding to the first application, and determining equipment corresponding to the first application; the first discovery request can be used for requesting to discover equipment corresponding to the first application; the first message may include first indication information indicating a discoverable level of the first device.

Based on the fourth aspect, the second device may dynamically schedule multiple access technologies according to the application, so as to meet diversified requirements for power consumption and bandwidth of different services or the same service in different communication scenarios. Meanwhile, a plurality of filtering strategies are provided for the second device, more device discovery modes and device discovery processes can be supported, and the scene requirements of more device discovery are met.

In one possible design, the second device determines the access technology corresponding to the first application according to the application requirement and/or the service type of the first application.

Based on the possible design, the second device can dynamically schedule multiple access technologies according to the application requirements and/or service types of the first application, so as to meet the diversified requirements of different services or the same service on power consumption and bandwidth in different communication scenes.

In one possible design, the discoverable levels include one or more of the following: device discovery that the device desires to be paired, device discovery that the device desires to be assigned an address or service set identification SSID, device discovery that the device desires to be supported a specified service or capability, device not discoverable, device generally discoverable, device priority discoverable.

Based on the possible design, a plurality of discoverable levels are provided, and the scene requirements of more equipment discovery can be met.

In one possible design, the filtering strategy includes one or more of: discovery of devices that have been paired, discovery of devices that specify an address or SSID, discovery of devices that support a particular service or capability, discovery of devices within a particular range, no filtering enabled, discovery of discoverable devices, discovery of prioritized devices.

Based on the possible design, a plurality of filtering strategies are provided, more device discovery modes and device discovery processes can be supported, and the scene requirements of more device discovery are met.

In one possible design, when the first message is a polling broadcast message, the second device sends a polling response to the first device when the second device determines that the first device is a device corresponding to the first application.

Based on the two possible designs, when the first message is a polling broadcast message, the second device may send a polling response to the first device. When the second device is a hidden device (i.e. a device that does not send a broadcast message, but only scans and receives polling), the first device may discover the hidden device according to the polling response sent by the hidden device.

In one possible design, the second device obtains a second discovery request of the second application; the second discovery request is used for requesting to discover equipment corresponding to the second application; the second device determines whether the first discovery request and the second discovery request overlap; if the first application is overlapped with the second application, the second device determines the device corresponding to the first application as the device corresponding to the second application; or the second device combines the first discovery request and the second discovery request into one discovery request; scanning a first message broadcast by first equipment through an access technology corresponding to a first application according to the combined discovery request; and filtering the first message according to a combined filtering strategy, and determining the filtered equipment as equipment corresponding to the first application and equipment corresponding to the second application, wherein the combined filtering strategy is a filtering strategy obtained by combining the filtering strategy corresponding to the first application and the filtering strategy corresponding to the second application, or the combined filtering strategy is a filtering strategy corresponding to the combined discovery request.

Based on the possible design, when the second device obtains the discovery requests of the multiple applications, the second device may arbitrate and merge the discovery requests of the multiple applications, so as to reduce the number of times that the second device executes the device discovery method, and reduce the power consumption of the second device.

In one possible design, the second device determines a first tag based on the first application; wherein, the labels corresponding to the applications which are found to be requested to be overlapped are the same; and the second equipment filters the first message according to the filtering strategy corresponding to the first application, and determines the filtered equipment as the equipment corresponding to the application indicated by the first label.

Based on the possible design, the second device may also set a label for the application according to the application requirements of each application, and may subsequently distribute the device discovery result to each application according to the label.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may implement the functions performed by the second device in the fourth aspect or the possible designs of the fourth aspect, where the functions may be implemented by executing corresponding software through hardware. The hardware or software comprises one or more modules corresponding to the functions. Such as a transceiver module and a processing module. The receiving and sending module is used for acquiring a first discovery request of a first application; the processing module is used for determining an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the first application; the receiving and sending module is used for scanning a first message broadcasted by first equipment through an access technology corresponding to a first application; the processing module is used for filtering the first message according to the filtering strategy corresponding to the first application and determining equipment corresponding to the first application; the first discovery request can be used for requesting to discover equipment corresponding to the first application; the first message may include first indication information indicating a discoverable level of the first device.

In one possible design, the processing module is configured to determine an access technology corresponding to the first application according to an application requirement and/or a service type of the first application.

In one possible design, when the first message is a polling broadcast message, the transceiver module sends a polling response to the first device when the processing module determines that the first device is a device corresponding to the first application.

In one possible design, the transceiver module is further configured to obtain a second discovery request of a second application; the second discovery request is used for requesting to discover equipment corresponding to the second application; the processing module is further used for judging whether the first discovery request and the second discovery request are overlapped; if the first application and the second application are overlapped, the processing module determines the equipment corresponding to the first application as the equipment corresponding to the second application; or the processing module combines the first discovery request and the second discovery request into one discovery request; the transceiver module scans a first message broadcast by first equipment through an access technology corresponding to a first application according to the combined discovery request; the processing module filters the first message according to a combined filtering strategy, and determines the filtered devices as devices corresponding to the first application and devices corresponding to the second application, wherein the combined filtering strategy is a filtering strategy obtained by combining a filtering strategy corresponding to the first application and a filtering strategy corresponding to the second application, or the combined filtering strategy is a filtering strategy corresponding to the combined discovery request.

In one possible design, the processing module is further configured to determine a first tag according to the first application; wherein, the labels corresponding to the applications with overlapped requests are the same; the processing module is further configured to filter the first message according to a filtering policy corresponding to the first application, and determine the filtered device as a device corresponding to the application indicated by the first tag.

It should be noted that, for a specific implementation manner of the communication apparatus, reference may also be made to a behavior function of the second device in the device discovery method provided by any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect, and for a technical effect brought by the communication apparatus, reference may also be made to a technical effect brought by any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect, which is not described again.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a second device or a chip or a system on a chip in the second device. The communication means may implement the functions performed by the second device in each of the above aspects or possible designs, which functions may be implemented by hardware. In one possible design, the communication device may include: a transceiver and a processor. The transceiver and the processor may be adapted to enable the communication device to carry out the functions referred to in the fourth aspect above or in any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect. For example: the transceiver may be configured to obtain a first discovery request of a first application; the processor may be configured to determine, according to the first application, an access technology corresponding to the first application; the transceiver may be further configured to scan for a first message broadcast by the first device via an access technology corresponding to the first application; the processor can be further used for filtering the first message according to the filtering strategy corresponding to the first application, and determining the equipment corresponding to the first application; the first discovery request can be used for requesting to discover equipment corresponding to the first application; the first message may include first indication information indicating a discoverable level of the first device. In yet another possible design, the communication device may further include a memory for storing computer-executable instructions and data necessary for the communication device. The transceiver and the processor execute the computer executable instructions stored by the memory to cause the communications apparatus to perform the device discovery method according to any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect as described above when the communications apparatus is operating.

The communication apparatus according to the sixth aspect may be implemented by referring to any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect, and the function of the second device in the device discovery method is provided.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which includes one or more processors and one or more processors configured to execute a computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or instructions are executed by the one or more processors, the communication apparatus is caused to perform the device discovery method according to the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, or perform the device discovery method according to the fourth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect.

In one possible design, the communication device further includes one or more communication interfaces; one or more communication interfaces are coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more communication interfaces for communicating with other modules outside the communication device.

In one possible design, the communication device further includes one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memories storing the computer programs or instructions. In one possible implementation, the memory is located outside the communication device. In another possible implementation, the memory is located within the communication device. In the embodiments of the present application, it is also possible that the processor and the memory are integrated in one device, that is, the processor and the memory are also integrated together.

In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided that includes an interface circuit and a logic circuit; the interface circuit is coupled with the logic circuit; logic circuitry for performing a device discovery method as described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect, or performing a device discovery method as described in the fourth aspect or any possible design of the fourth aspect; the interface circuit is used for communicating with other modules than the communication device.

A ninth aspect provides a computer readable storage medium storing a computer instruction or program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform a device discovery method as set forth in the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, or to perform a device discovery method as set forth in the fourth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect.

A tenth aspect provides a computer program product comprising computer instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform a device discovery method as defined in the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect, or to perform a device discovery method as defined in the fourth aspect or any of the possible designs of the fourth aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform a device discovery method according to the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect, or perform a device discovery method according to any of the possible designs of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect.

For technical effects brought by any design manner of the seventh aspect to the eleventh aspect, reference may be made to technical effects brought by any possible design of the first aspect, or to technical effects brought by any possible design of the fourth aspect, which is not repeated herein.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of a limited discovery process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a general discovery process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a new short-range protocol architecture of the flash of satellites according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an SLE access technology provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an SLB access technique according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 is a flowchart of a device discovery method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of a device discovery method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a frame structure of broadcast data according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of a polling broadcast provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a flowchart of a device discovery method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a flowchart of a device discovery method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of an arbitration and merging method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an arbitration and merge method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 17 is a schematic composition diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

A Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol architecture may include a host (host), a controller (controller), and a host interface controller (HCI) between the host and the controller.

Wherein the host may define a device type, a device discovery mode, and a device discovery procedure. The controller may provide the underlying functionality required in the device discovery process, such as sending broadcast messages or scanning for broadcast messages.

Illustratively, the device types may include peripheral devices and central devices. The device discovery modes may include a non-discoverable mode, a limited discovery mode, and a general discovery mode. The device discovery process may include a limited discovery process and a general discovery process.

Specifically, in the device discovery process, the peripheral device configured in any one of the device discovery modes may send a broadcast message, and the central device configured in any one of the device discovery processes may scan the broadcast message to discover the peripheral device.

For example, the peripheral device may be a memory-limited or power consumption-sensitive device such as a headset, a watch, or the like. The central equipment can be mobile phones, computers and other equipment. The headset may send a broadcast message and the handset may scan the broadcast message sent by the headset for finding the headset.

Among them, the device configured as the non-discoverable mode may transmit the broadcast message, but may not configure the flag bits of the limited discovery mode and the general discovery mode in the flag (Flags) -type broadcast data.

Among them, the limited discovery mode is generally used for a device that desires to be quickly discovered and connected, and a device configured in this mode needs to transmit a broadcast message and needs to configure a limited discovery mode flag in broadcast data of a Flags type.

The device configured in the general discovery mode needs to transmit a broadcast message and configure a general discovery mode flag in the broadcast data of the Flags type.

Illustratively, the limited discovery mode or the general discovery mode may be indicated in BLE by configuring a flag bit in flag-type broadcast data. As shown in table 1 below, broadcast data of the Flags type may have a length of 1 byte, and may indicate the limited discovery mode by setting a value of the byte to 0 and a value of the byte to 1 to indicate the general discovery mode:

TABLE 1

Wherein a device configured for limited discovery procedures may scan for broadcast messages and filter out devices configured for limited discovery mode during the scanning procedure.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 1, for the example where the peripherals include a peripheral 1 configured in a limited discovery mode and a peripheral 2 configured in a general discovery mode, the peripheral 1 may transmit a broadcast event (limited) to indicate that the peripheral 1 is configured in the limited discovery mode; peripheral device 2 may send a broadcast event (generic) to indicate that peripheral device 2 is configured in a generic discovery mode; assuming that the central device has scanned broadcast events (limited) and broadcast events (general) during the scanning, the central device may filter out devices configured in a limited discovery mode, i.e. the central device discovers the peripheral device 1, according to the broadcast events.

Wherein a device configured as a general discovery procedure may scan for broadcast messages and filter out devices configured as a limited discovery mode and devices configured as a general discovery mode, i.e. remove devices configured as a non-discoverable mode, in the scanning procedure.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 2, for example, the peripheral devices include a peripheral device 1 configured in a limited discovery mode and a peripheral device 2 configured in a general discovery mode, the peripheral device 1 may transmit a broadcast event (limited) to indicate that the peripheral device 1 is configured in the limited discovery mode; peripheral 2 may send a broadcast event (generic) to indicate that peripheral 2 times configured in a generic discovery mode; assuming that the central device scans for broadcast events (limited) and broadcast events (general) during the scanning, the central device may filter out devices configured in the limited discovery mode and devices configured in the general discovery mode, i.e., the central device discovers peripheral 1 and peripheral 2, according to the broadcast events.

However, the above BLE protocol architecture only supports a single BLE access technology, and cannot meet the diversified requirements for power consumption and bandwidth in different services (e.g., audio service and video service) or different communication scenarios (e.g., a communication scenario playing standard sound quality in audio service and a communication scenario playing lossless sound quality in audio service) by the same application. And the device discovery modes and device discovery processes supported by the BLE protocol architecture are fewer, and the scene requirements for discovering more devices cannot be met, for example, the scene requirements for only devices expected to be discovered by a paired device cannot be met, the scene requirements for finding devices according to device distances cannot be met, and the like.

In addition, in the device discovery process, the central device needs to scan the broadcast message sent by the peripheral device to discover the peripheral device, and when the peripheral device does not send the broadcast message, the peripheral device cannot be discovered, that is, the above BLE protocol architecture cannot support the function of discovering a hidden device (i.e., a device that does not send the broadcast message and only scans and receives polling).

Based on the foregoing problems, an embodiment of the present application provides a device discovery method, which may include: the method comprises the steps that first equipment obtains request information of first application; the request information is used for indicating the discoverable level of the first device; the first equipment determines an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the first application; according to the request information, broadcasting a first message including first indication information through an access technology corresponding to the first application; the first indication information may be used to indicate a discoverable level of the first device.

In the embodiment of the application, the first device may dynamically schedule multiple access technologies according to the application, so as to meet diversified requirements of different services or the same service on power consumption and bandwidth in different communication scenarios. Meanwhile, multiple discoverable levels are provided for the first device, more device discovery modes and device discovery processes can be supported, and the scene requirements of more device discovery are met.

The following detailed description of embodiments of the present application refers to the accompanying drawings.

The device discovery method provided in this embodiment of the present application may be applied to any communication system, and the communication system may be a short-range communication system, a cellular communication system (e.g., a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a new radio access technology (NR)), a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, and various types of next generation communication systems (e.g., the sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system), and the like, without limitation. The short-range communication system may be a bluetooth communication system, a low-power bluetooth communication system, a wireless-fidelity (Wi-Fi) communication system, or any other type of next-generation short-range communication system, without limitation.

For example, taking the communication system as a short-range communication system as an example, each communication device in the short-range communication system may adopt a flash-of-satellite short-range protocol. As shown in fig. 3, the flash-on-satellite short range protocol architecture may include an access layer, a host, and an application. The access stratum may simultaneously support multiple access technologies, such as a sparklink-basic (SLB) access technology, a sparklink-low-power (SLE) access technology, and the like. Above the access layer is a normalized host framework, and the host can schedule the access technologies supported by the access layer according to the Application (APP) requirements.

Wherein, as shown in fig. 3, the host may include a base application layer and a base service layer.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 3, the base application layer may include a base communication service framework module, and the base service layer may include a device discovery module.

The basic communication service framework module can be responsible for bearing an equipment discovery request issued by an application facing the application, and determining a bottom access technology needing scheduling according to the application requirement. And the service provided by the device discovery module is utilized to select a proper device discovery mode, a discoverable grade meeting requirements, a filtering strategy and the like, and a specific device discovery request configuration is issued to the device discovery module. When the communication device is a scanner device, the basic communication service framework module may further receive a device discovery result sent by the device discovery module, and distribute the device discovery result to each application according to an application requirement.

For example, the basic communication service framework module may determine the underlying access technology to be scheduled according to the quality of service (QoS) capability requirement of the application, the service type, and the like.

For example, for the case that the application needs to play 1080P high-definition audio, and the bandwidth requirement of the audio data on the underlying transmission channel after being encoded and compressed is 5Mbps, assuming that the maximum bandwidth supported by the current SLE access technology is 4Mbps and the maximum bandwidth supported by the SLB access technology is about 120Mbps, the basic communication service framework module may determine that the SLE access technology cannot meet the play of the high-definition audio, thereby determining that a device supporting the SLB access technology needs to be discovered, and then invoking the SLB access technology to perform device discovery.

The device discovery module may define a device discovery pattern, provide a variety of device discoverable levels, and filter policies, among others. The device discovery request issued by the basic communication service framework module can be accepted, and the device discovery request command is encapsulated and distributed to the corresponding bottom access technology (such as the access technologies of the SLB access technology, the SLE access technology and the like) according to the bottom access technology selected in the device discovery request. When the communication device is a scanner device, the device discovery module may further receive the device discovery result reported by the bottom access technology after the bottom access technology completes processing of the device discovery request command, perform filtering according to the filtering policy, and report the filtered device discovery result to the basic communication service framework module.

The underlying access technology is used for receiving a device discovery request command sent by the device discovery module. When the communication device is a broadcaster device, the underlying access technology may send a broadcast message according to the device discovery request command to enable the current device to be discovered. When the communication device is a scanner device, the underlying access technology executes a device discovery process according to a device discovery request command sent by the device discovery module to obtain a device discovery result, and reports the device discovery result to the device discovery module. When the underlying access technology supports a filtering function (such as an SLE access technology), the underlying access technology may also perform preliminary filtering on the device discovery result based on a filtering policy, and report the preliminarily filtered device discovery result to the device discovery module. Wherein the filtering policy may be indicated to the underlying access technology by the basic communication service framework module through the device discovery module.

The access technologies supported by the access stratum may be an access technology such as an SLB access technology, an SLE access technology, and the like, and may also be an access technology such as Bluetooth (BT), BLE, wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), near Field Communication (NFC), and the like.

Specifically, the SLE access technology is an access technology that can realize rapid discovery and connection and has the advantage of low power consumption. When the SLE access technology is in an unconnected state, the broadcaster device can generally select one or more broadcast channels to transmit broadcast messages at a time on the fixed three broadcast channels, the scanner device can scan the three broadcast channels in sequence, and the broadcaster device can be discovered when the broadcast messages are scanned and received. Meanwhile, the SLE access technology can support that after the scanning party equipment receives the broadcast message, the scanning party equipment continues to send the scanning request to the broadcasting party equipment, and the broadcasting party equipment is required to send more equipment information.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 4, with the SLE access technology in the unconnected state, the broadcaster device can send broadcast messages (i.e., ADV _ EXT _ IND) on broadcast channel a, broadcast channel B, and broadcast channel C. ADV _ EXT _ IND is a basic broadcast type of the SLE access technology, and the host may configure the broadcaster device to send basic broadcasts on the three broadcast channels based on the SLE access technology. ADV _ EXT _ IND may also carry time-frequency pointer information for pointing to the extended broadcast data carried on the data channel (i.e., AUX _ ADV _ IND). The scanning device may select a broadcast channel for scanning within the scanning window, and after receiving ADV _ EXT _ IND, the scanning device may continue to receive AUX _ ADV _ IND on the data channel according to the time-frequency pointer information and send a scan request (scan request) to request the broadcasting device to continue to send more device information. The broadcaster device may receive the scan request based on a receive window, the maximum length of which may be 15 scan requests in length, and the length is reconfigurable, and upon receiving the scan request, the broadcaster device may reply to the scanner device with a scan response (scan response).

It should be noted that, in the SLE access technology, before the broadcaster device establishes a connection with the scanner device, the broadcaster device may send a broadcast message, where the broadcast message may include indication information for indicating that the broadcaster device desires to become a resource scheduling (G) device, or include indication information for indicating that the broadcaster device desires to become a terminal (T) device. After scanning the broadcast message, the scanner device may send a connection request to the broadcaster device, where the connection request may include indication information indicating that the scanner device desires to become a G device or include indication information indicating that the scanner device desires to become a T device. After the broadcaster equipment receives the connection request, the broadcaster equipment is negotiated with the scanner equipment according to the connection request to determine that the broadcaster equipment becomes T equipment and the scanner equipment becomes G equipment, and then connection is established; or negotiating to determine that the broadcasting side equipment becomes G equipment and the scanning side equipment becomes T equipment, and further establishing connection; or negotiation fails and connection fails. When the broadcaster device and the scanner device successfully establish a connection, the device that becomes the G device may schedule resources as a scheduling resource device.

For example, taking an example that the broadcast message sent by the broadcaster device includes indication information indicating that the broadcaster device desires to become a T device, after scanning the broadcast message, the scanner device may send a connection request to the broadcaster device. Assuming that the connection request includes indication information indicating that the scanning device desires to become a G device, the broadcasting device may determine that the broadcasting device is a T device and the scanning device is a G device according to the connection request, successfully establish a connection with the scanning device, and schedule resources by using the scanning device as a resource scheduling device. Assuming that the connection request includes indication information for indicating that the scanner device expects to become a T device, since both the broadcaster device and the scanner device expect to become the T device, the broadcaster device may determine that itself is a G device according to the connection request, the scanner device becomes the T device, successfully establishes a connection with the scanner device, and the broadcaster device schedules resources as a resource scheduling device; the broadcaster device may also refuse to become a G device, i.e. the broadcaster device refuses to establish a connection with the scanner device.

For another example, taking an example that the broadcast message sent by the broadcaster device includes indication information indicating that the broadcaster device desires to become a G device, the scanner device may send a connection request to the broadcaster device after scanning the broadcast message. Assuming that the connection request includes indication information indicating that the scanner device desires to become a T device, the broadcaster device may determine that the broadcaster device is a G device, the scanner device is a T device, successfully establishes a connection with the scanner device, and the broadcaster device schedules resources as a resource scheduling device according to the connection request. Assuming that the connection request includes indication information for indicating that the scanning party device expects to become a G device, because both the broadcasting party device and the scanning party device expect to become a G device, the broadcasting party device may determine that itself is a T device according to the connection request, the scanning party device becomes a G device, a connection is successfully established with the scanning party device, and the scanning party device schedules resources as a resource scheduling device; the broadcaster device may also refuse to become a T device, i.e. the broadcaster device refuses to establish a connection with the scanner device.

Specifically, the SLB access technology is an access technology with a large bandwidth capability. In the SLB access technology, devices may be divided into G devices and T devices. Wherein, the G device may be a resource scheduling center. In the SLB access technology, generally, G devices send broadcast messages, T devices scan and receive the broadcast messages of the G devices, and the G devices do not scan and discover the T devices, that is, before the SLB access technology is not connected, the device discovery process is unidirectional, and only the T devices discover the G devices.

For example, as shown in fig. 5, the G device may periodically transmit a first synchronization signal (FTS) and a second synchronization signal (STS), a main system information block (MIB) message, and a System Information Block (SIB) message on a fixed time-frequency domain resource. And after receiving and synchronizing the FTS and the STS, the T equipment completes downlink synchronization, synchronously receives the MIB message and then receives the SIB message, and completes the synchronization process of the G equipment and the T equipment.

In specific implementation, the communication device adopting the protocol architecture shown in fig. 3 includes: the broadcaster side device, the scanner side device may each adopt the composition structure shown in fig. 6, or include the components shown in fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a schematic composition diagram of a communication apparatus 600 according to an embodiment of the present application, where the communication apparatus 600 may be a broadcasting device or a chip or a system on a chip in the broadcasting device; but also a scanner device or a chip or system on chip in a scanner device. As shown in fig. 6, the communication device 600 includes a processor 601, a transceiver 602, and a communication link 603.

Further, the communication device 600 may also include a memory 604. The processor 601, the memory 604 and the transceiver 602 may be connected via a communication line 603.

The processor 601 is a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or any combination thereof. The processor 601 may also be other devices with processing functions, such as, without limitation, a circuit, a device, or a software module.

A transceiver 602 for communicating with other devices or other communication networks. The other communication network may be an ethernet, a Radio Access Network (RAN), a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), or the like. The transceiver 602 may be a module, a circuit, a transceiver, or any device capable of enabling communication.

A communication line 603 for communicating information between the various components included in the communication device 600.

A memory 604 for storing instructions. Wherein the instructions may be a computer program.

The memory 604 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and/or instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and/or instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disc storage medium or other magnetic storage devices, and the like, without limitation.

It is noted that the memory 604 may exist separately from the processor 601 or may be integrated with the processor 601. The memory 604 may be used for storing instructions or program code or some data or the like. The memory 604 may be located inside the communication device 600 or outside the communication device 600, which is not limited. The processor 601 is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory 604 to implement the device discovery method provided in the following embodiments of the present application.

In one example, processor 601 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in FIG. 6.

As an alternative implementation, the communication device 600 includes multiple processors, for example, the processor 607 may be included in addition to the processor 601 in fig. 6.

As an alternative implementation, the communication apparatus 600 further includes an output device 605 and an input device 606. Illustratively, the input device 606 is a keyboard, mouse, microphone, or joystick, among other devices, and the output device 605 is a display screen, speaker (spaker), among other devices.

It is noted that the communication apparatus 600 may be a desktop computer, a portable computer, a network server, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wireless terminal, an embedded device, a chip system or a device with a similar structure as in fig. 6. Further, the constituent structure shown in fig. 7 does not constitute a limitation of the communication apparatus, and the communication apparatus may include more or less components than those shown in fig. 6, or combine some components, or a different arrangement of components, in addition to the components shown in fig. 6.

In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

In addition, acts, terms, and the like referred to between the embodiments of the present application may be mutually referenced and are not limited. In the embodiment of the present application, the name of the message exchanged between the devices or the name of the parameter in the message, etc. are only an example, and other names may also be used in the specific implementation, which is not limited.

The device discovery method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to the protocol architecture shown in fig. 3, where the first device may be any broadcasting device in the communication system that adopts the protocol architecture shown in fig. 3; the second device may be any scanner device in the communication system that employs the protocol architecture shown in fig. 3. Both the first apparatus and the second apparatus described in the following embodiments may have the components shown in fig. 6.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart of a device discovery method applied to a broadcaster device according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 7, the method may include:

step 701, the first device obtains request information of the first application.

Wherein the request information may be used to indicate a discoverable level of the first device.

Specifically, the request information may be used to request the first device to advertise the discoverable level of the first device outwards. The request information may also be used to request the first device to advertise device information of the first device outward.

The device information may be, without limitation, device type, device appearance, device manufacturer information, device name, and the like.

Wherein a discoverable level may include one or more of: device discovery where a device is expected to be paired, device discovery where a device is expected to be assigned an address or Service Set Identifier (SSID), device discovery where a device is expected to be supported for a particular service or capability, device non-discoverable, device generally discoverable, device first discoverable.

Specifically, when the first device adopts the protocol structure shown in fig. 3, as shown in fig. 8, the above-mentioned discoverable levels may be configured in the device discovery module of the first device, and the descriptions of the discoverable levels can be detailed in the following table 2:

TABLE 2

In one example, the request information may include a discoverable level of the first device, and the first device may determine the discoverable level of the first device from the request information.

For example, the request information may include device discoveries that the devices are expected to have been paired with, and the first device may determine from the request information that the discoverable level of the first device is the device discovery that the devices are expected to have been paired with.

In a second example, the request information may include one or more of the following: the first device may determine the discoverable level of the first device from the request information, identification information of the devices that have been paired, a specified address or SSID, specific services or capabilities, etc.

The identification information of the device may be an MAC address, an IP address, an ID, and the like of the device, which may be used to identify the identity information of the device, and is not limited.

For example, taking the example that the request information includes an SSID, the first device may determine, from the SSID, that the discoverable level of the first device is device discovery for which the device desires to be assigned an address or SSID.

In a third example, the request information may further include an application requirement and/or a service type of the first application, and the first device may determine the discoverable level of the first device according to the application requirement and/or the service type of the first application.

For example, taking the example that the request information includes the application requirements of the first application, assuming that the application requirements of the first application are to play audio, the first device may determine, according to the request information, that the discoverable level of the first device is device discovery that the device desires to be supported by a particular service or capability.

Based on the above three examples, when the first device adopts the protocol structure shown in fig. 3, as shown in fig. 8, the basic communication service framework module in the first device may obtain the request information of the first application, and call the discoverable level provided by the device discovery module (for example, the basic communication service framework module may obtain the discoverable level provided by the device discovery module by calling the interface provided by the device discovery module), and determine the discoverable level of the first device according to the request information of the first application.

Optionally, the request information further includes a broadcast mode.

The broadcast mode may be broadcast or polling broadcast.

Specifically, when the broadcast mode is broadcast, the first device may inform the first device of the discoverable level using broadcast. When the broadcast mode is a polling broadcast, the first device may use the polling broadcast to inform the first device of the discoverable level.

Optionally, the request information further includes broadcast data.

The broadcast data may be, without limitation, transmission power broadcasted by the first device, services supported by the first device, or status information of the first device.

Illustratively, the first device may carry broadcast data when it is informed outwardly of the discoverable level of the first device.

Step 702, the first device determines an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the first application.

For example, the first device may determine the access technology corresponding to the first application according to the application requirement and/or the service type of the first application.

Wherein the application requirement of the first application may be a QoS capability requirement of the first application.

The service type of the first application may be an audio service, a video service, or a call service, and is not limited. Further, the audio service may be further divided into a standard audio service, a lossless audio service, and the like, and the video service may be further divided into a high definition video service, a standard video service, and the like.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 8, the basic communication service framework module of the first device may determine, according to the first application, an access technology corresponding to the first application.

For example, taking the application requirement of the first application is to play 1080P high-definition audio, and the bandwidth requirement of the encoded and compressed audio data on the underlying transmission channel is 5Mbps as an example, assuming that the maximum bandwidth supported by the current SLE access technology is 4Mbps and the maximum bandwidth supported by the SLB access technology is about 120Mbps, the basic communication service framework module of the first device may determine that the SLB access technology can satisfy the play of 1080P high-definition audio and the SLE access technology cannot satisfy the play of 1080P high-definition audio, thereby determining that the access technology corresponding to the first application is the SLB access technology.

For another example, if the service type of the first application is a playing standard audio service, and it is assumed that the playing standard audio service corresponds to the SLE access technology, the basic communication service framework module of the first device may determine that the access technology corresponding to the first application is the SLE access technology.

And step 703, the first device broadcasts the first message through the access technology corresponding to the first application according to the request information.

As shown in fig. 8, after determining the access technology corresponding to the first application, the basic communication service framework module of the first device may indicate the access technology corresponding to the first application to the device discovery module, and the device discovery module may further indicate the access technology corresponding to the first application to the access stratum, and the access stratum determines the first message and broadcasts the first message.

Specifically, the basic communication service framework module may indicate an access technology corresponding to the first application in the request information, convert the request information into request information that may be received by the device discovery module, and send the request information to the device discovery module. The device discovery module may determine an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the received request information, perform encapsulation on the relevant parameters, convert the received request information into request information that may be received by the access stratum, and send the request information to the access stratum. And determining and broadcasting the first message by the access layer according to the request information.

For example, taking the access technology determined by the basic communication service framework module of the first device as the SLE access technology as an example, the basic communication service framework module may indicate the SLE access technology in the request information, convert the request information into request information that can be received by the device discovery module, and send the request information to the device discovery module. The device discovery module encapsulates the relevant parameters according to the SLE access technology indicated in the received request information, converts the received request information into request information which can be received by the access layer, and sends the request information to the access layer. The first message is configured and broadcast by the access stratum according to the SLE access technology.

The first message may include first indication information, and the first indication information may be used to indicate a discoverable level of the first device.

Specifically, the basic communication service framework module of the first device may further carry the discoverable level of the first device in the request information and send the request information to the device discovery module, the device discovery module carries the discoverable level of the first device in the request information and sends the request information to the access stratum, and the access stratum determines the first indication information according to the discoverable level of the first device.

Illustratively, as shown in (a) of fig. 9, the first device may broadcast the first message carried in a broadcast data payload of the broadcast data.

As shown in fig. 9 (a), the broadcast data may include a broadcast data header and a broadcast data payload.

Specifically, the first device may add broadcast data of a broadcast attribute type in the broadcast data payload and configure a corresponding bit to indicate the first indication information.

Illustratively, taking the length of the broadcast data of the broadcast attribute type as 1 byte as an example, 3 bits thereof may be used as the first indication information to indicate the discoverable level of the first device.

For example, as shown in (b) of fig. 9, bits 1 to 3 may be used as the first indication information to indicate a discoverable level of the first device, and referring to table 3 below, when bit values of bits 1 to 3 are 000, 001, 010, \ 8230;, and 101, the discoverable level of the first device may be sequentially indicated as device non-discoverable, device general discoverable, device preferential discoverable, device discovery for which the device desires to be paired once, device discovery for which the device desires to be assigned an address or SSID, and device discovery for which the device desires to be supported a specific service or capability.

TABLE 3

It should be noted that the discoverable level of the first device indicated in the first message may be mandatory support or optional support, and table 3 is only an exemplary illustration and is not limited.

For a first device (for example, a temperature sensor device or the like) with a simpler functional requirement, only a type of forced support is supported, thereby reducing the design complexity of the first device. For a first device with relatively strong functionality (e.g., a True Wireless Stereo (TWS) headset), multiple types may be selectively supported, including a type of mandatory support and a type of optional support, to meet richer traffic demands.

Optionally, the first message further includes one or more of the following information: identification information of the devices that have been paired, a specified address or SSID, a particular service or capability.

The access stratum of the first device may carry the information in a broadcast data payload.

For example, when the discoverable level of the first device is that the device is expected to be discovered by the paired device, the first message may include identification information of the paired device; the first message may include the specified address or SSID when the discoverable level of the first device is device discovery for which the device desires to be assigned the address or SSID; the first message may include the particular service or capability when the discoverable level of the first device is discovered by a device for which the device desires to be supported by the particular service or capability.

When the first message includes one or more of the above information, the device receiving the first message may determine whether itself is a device desired by the first device according to the first message, and if so, may discover the first device and communicate, otherwise, may not discover the first device, i.e., remove the first device from the list of discovered devices or determine the first device as a discovered device.

Optionally, the first message further includes second indication information.

Wherein the second indication information may be used to indicate whether the first message is a polling broadcast message.

Specifically, the first device may determine whether to set the first message as a polling broadcast message according to a broadcast mode indicated by the first application, and the first device may also determine whether to set the first message device as the polling broadcast message according to application requirements and/or a service type of the first application.

For example, taking the length of the broadcast data of the broadcast attribute type as 1 byte as an example, 1 bit thereof may be used as the second indication information to indicate whether the first message is a polling broadcast message.

For example, as shown in (b) of fig. 9, bit 0 may be used as the second indication information to indicate whether the first message is a polling broadcast message. For example, bit 0 may be set to 0 to indicate that the first message is a polling broadcast message and bit 0 may be set to 1 to indicate that the first message is not a polling broadcast message. Alternatively, bit 0 may be set to 1 to indicate that the first message is a polling broadcast message, and bit 0 may be set to 0 to indicate that the first message is not a polling broadcast message.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 10, taking a first device as a TWS headset supporting dual connection, a second device includes a handset a, a handset B and a handset C, and the headset is already connected to the handset a, when the headset desires to be discovered by a paired device, the headset may carry and broadcast first indication information configured that the device desires to be discovered by the paired device in a first message, and assuming that the handset C is a paired device with the headset and the handset B has not been paired with the headset, when the handset B and the handset C scan the first message sent by the headset, the handset C may determine itself as a paired device with the headset according to the first message, and then discover and connect to the headset, thereby avoiding the headset from being rejected by the handset C during the connection with the handset C. Meanwhile, the mobile phone B may determine that it has not been paired with the headset (or may be described as a device that the mobile phone B may recognize as being undetectable to itself), and if the mobile phone B attempts to establish a connection with the headset, the mobile phone B may be rejected by the headset, so the mobile phone B does not attempt to establish a connection with the headset.

Based on the method shown in fig. 7, the first device may dynamically schedule multiple access technologies according to the application, so as to meet the diversified requirements of different services or the same service on power consumption and bandwidth in different communication scenarios. Meanwhile, multiple discoverable levels are provided for the first device, more device discovery modes and device discovery processes can be supported, and the scene requirements of more device discovery are met.

Further, as shown in fig. 11, the second device may scan the first message broadcast by the first device, and when the second indication information indicates that the first message is a polling broadcast message in the first message scanned by the second device, the second device may send a polling response to the first device.

The second device may scan the first message broadcast by the first device by referring to the device discovery method shown in fig. 12, which is not described herein again.

Specifically, when the second device scans the first message broadcast by the first device, the second device may parse the first message, and determine whether the first message is a polling broadcast message according to the second indication information in the first message.

Optionally, when the second device determines that the first device is a device corresponding to the first application, the second device sends a polling response to the first device.

For example, the second device may determine whether the first device is a device corresponding to the first application according to the discoverable level in the scanned first message.

The polling response may be a scan request, and the first device may discover the second device according to the polling response.

Based on the method shown in fig. 11, when the second device is a hidden device (i.e. a device that does not send a broadcast message, but only scans and receives polling), the first device may discover the hidden device according to the polling response sent by the hidden device.

Corresponding to the device discovery method applied to the broadcaster device (i.e., the first device) shown in fig. 7, as shown in fig. 12, the scanner device (i.e., the second device) may scan the first message broadcast by the broadcaster device to discover the broadcaster device.

Fig. 12 is a device discovery method applied to a scanner device according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 12, the method may include:

step 1201, the second device obtains a first discovery request of the first application.

The first discovery request may be used to request discovery of a device corresponding to the first application.

Specifically, the device corresponding to the first application may be a device executing the first application.

The first discovery request may include information such as an application requirement and/or a service type of the first application.

Step 1202, the second device determines an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the first application.

For example, the second device may determine the access technology corresponding to the first application according to the application requirement and/or the service type of the first application.

Specifically, for the specific description of determining, by the second device, the access technology corresponding to the first application, reference may be made to the relevant description of determining, by the first device, the access technology corresponding to the first application in step 702, which is not described herein again.

Step 1203, the second device scans a first message broadcasted by the first device through an access technology corresponding to the first application.

The specific description of the first message may refer to the description related to the first message in step 703, which is not repeated herein.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 13, after the basic communication service framework module of the second device determines the access technology corresponding to the first application, the basic communication service framework module may indicate the access technology corresponding to the first application to the device discovery module, and the device discovery module may further indicate the access technology corresponding to the first application to the access stratum, and the access stratum scans the first message broadcast by the first device according to the access technology corresponding to the first application.

Specifically, the basic communication service framework module may indicate an access technology corresponding to the first application in the first discovery request, convert the first discovery request into a first discovery request that may be received by the device discovery module, and send the first discovery request to the device discovery module. The device discovery module may determine, according to the received first discovery request, an access technology corresponding to the first application, perform encapsulation of the relevant parameters, convert the received first discovery request into a first discovery request that may be received by the access stratum, and send the first discovery request to the access stratum. The first message is scanned by the access stratum in accordance with the first discovery request.

For example, taking the access technology determined by the basic communication service framework module of the second device as the SLE access technology as an example, the basic communication service framework module may indicate the SLE access technology in the first discovery request, convert the first discovery request into a first discovery request that can be received by the device discovery module, and send the first discovery request to the device discovery module. The device discovery module encapsulates the relevant parameters according to the SLE access technology indicated in the received first discovery request, converts the received first discovery request into a first discovery request which can be received by the access stratum, and sends the first discovery request to the access stratum. The first message is scanned by the access stratum according to the SLE access technology.

Step 1204, the second device filters the first message according to the filtering policy corresponding to the first application, and determines a device corresponding to the first application.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 13, when the access stratum scans the first message broadcast by the first device based on the access technology corresponding to the first application, the access stratum may report the scanned first message to the device discovery module. And the equipment discovery module filters the first message according to the filtering strategy corresponding to the first application and reports the filtering result to the basic communication service framework module. And the basic communication service framework module determines the equipment corresponding to the first application according to the filtering result.

Wherein the filtering policy may include one or more of: discovery of devices that have been paired, discovery of devices that specify an address or SSID, discovery of devices that support a particular service or capability, discovery of devices within a particular range, no filtering enabled, discovery of discoverable devices, discovery of prioritized devices.

Specifically, when the second device adopts the protocol structure shown in fig. 3, as shown in fig. 13, the filtering policy may be configured in the device discovery module of the second device, and the description of each filtering policy may be detailed in the following table 4:

TABLE 4

For the devices in the specific range, the second device may calculate the distance between the peripheral device and the second device according to the parameters such as broadcast transmission power and signal strength, and filter out the devices that meet the distance requirement.

It should be noted that the filtering policy may be a mandatory support or an optional support, and the above table 4 is only an exemplary illustration and is not limited.

The second equipment (such as an intelligent water meter reading device) with simple functional requirements can meet the service requirements only by supporting part types, and does not need to support all types, so that the design complexity of the second equipment is reduced. For second devices with relatively strong functions (such as a car machine and a mobile phone), all types can be selectively supported so as to meet richer service requirements.

For example, as shown in fig. 13, a basic communication service framework module in the second device may obtain a first discovery request of the first application, and call a filtering policy provided by the device discovery module according to an application requirement and/or a traffic type of the first application (e.g., the basic communication service framework module may obtain the filtering policy provided by the device discovery module by calling an interface provided by the device discovery module), that is, determine a filtering policy corresponding to the first application.

As shown in fig. 13, after determining the filtering policy corresponding to the first application, the basic communication service framework module of the second device may indicate the filtering policy corresponding to the first application to the device discovery module of the second device, and the device discovery module may filter the first message reported by the access layer according to the filtering policy corresponding to the first application and report the filtered first message to the basic communication service framework module. And the basic communication service framework module determines equipment corresponding to the first application according to the filtered first message.

Based on the above description of the filtering policy, the first discovery request may further include one or more of the following information: identification information of the devices that have been paired, a specified address or SSID, a particular service or capability.

The device discovery module of the second device may filter the first message according to the first discovery request and the filtering policy corresponding to the first application.

For example, the first discovery request includes SSID1, SSID2, and SSID3, and the filtering policy corresponding to the first application is a device that discovers a designated address or SSID, and the device discovery module of the second device may filter, according to the first discovery request and the filtering policy corresponding to the first application, a first message that is reported by the access layer and whose SSID is SSID1, SSID2, or SSID3, and report the filtered first message to the basic communication service framework module. And the basic communication service framework module determines equipment corresponding to the first application according to the filtered first message.

Optionally, the device discovery module determines that the device discovery module filters the first message according to the filtering policy; or, the access layer filters the first message according to the filtering strategy; or, filtering the first message by the device discovery module and the access stratum according to the filtering policy.

When the device discovery module filters the first message according to the filtering policy, the access layer may report the scanned first message to the device discovery module, and the device discovery module filters the first message according to the filtering policy.

When the access layer filters the first message according to the filtering policy, the device discovery module may indicate the filtering policy to the access layer, filter the scanned first message by the access layer, report the filtered first message to the device discovery module, and report the received first message to the basic communication service framework module.

When the device discovery module and the access stratum filter the first message according to the filtering policy, the device discovery module may indicate the filtering policy to the access stratum, perform preliminary filtering on the scanned first message by the access stratum, and report the preliminarily filtered first message to the device discovery module. The device discovery module filters the received first message according to the filtering strategy and reports the filtering result to the basic communication service framework module.

For example, after receiving the first message reported by the device discovery module, the basic communication service framework module may determine the device corresponding to the first message as the device corresponding to the first application.

Based on the method shown in fig. 12, the second device may dynamically schedule multiple access technologies according to the application, so as to meet the diversified requirements of different services or the same service on power consumption and bandwidth in different communication scenarios. Meanwhile, multiple filtering strategies are provided for the second device, more device discovery modes and device discovery processes can be supported, and the scene requirements of more device discovery are met.

Further, when the second device obtains discovery requests of multiple applications, the second device may arbitrate and merge the discovery requests of the multiple applications, so as to reduce the number of times that the second device executes the device discovery method, and reduce the power consumption of the second device. In particular, reducing the number of times the access stratum in the second device performs the above-described device discovery method, or described as reducing the overlapping commands executed by the access stratum, reduces the power consumption of the second device.

The basic communication service framework module of the second device may arbitrate and merge discovery requests of multiple applications, or the device discovery module of the second device may arbitrate and merge discovery requests of multiple applications, which is not limited.

As shown in fig. 14, taking the example that the second device obtains the first discovery request of the first application and the second discovery request of the second application as an example, the arbitration and the merging of the discovery requests of the plurality of applications by the second device are described.

Fig. 14 is a flowchart of an arbitration and merging method provided in the present application, and as shown in fig. 14, the method may include:

step 1401, the second device obtains a first discovery request of the first application and a second discovery request of the second application.

The first discovery request is used for requesting to discover equipment corresponding to the first application; the second discovery request is used for requesting to discover the device corresponding to the second application.

It should be noted that the second device may first obtain the first discovery request of the first application, and after a while, obtain the second discovery request of the second application; or, the second device may also obtain the first discovery request of the first application and the second discovery request of the second application at the same time, which is not limited.

Step 1402, the second device determines whether the first discovery request overlaps with the second discovery request. If so, the following step 1403 is performed, or the following steps 1404 to 1406 are performed, otherwise, the following step 1407 is performed.

Wherein when the first discovery request is completely consistent with the second discovery request, it may be determined that the first discovery request overlaps with the second discovery request; alternatively, when the device types of the first discovery request and the second discovery request are consistent, it may also be determined that the first discovery request overlaps with the second discovery request.

For example, taking the case that the first discovery request is used to request to discover the internet access device of the SLB, and the second discovery request is used to request to discover the screen-throwable device of the SLB, since both the device corresponding to the first discovery request and the device corresponding to the second discovery request are SLB devices, it may be determined that the first discovery request overlaps with the second discovery request.

Based on that the second device has acquired the first discovery request, the second device may determine whether the second discovery request overlaps with the first discovery request when receiving the second discovery request. Or, after receiving the second discovery request, the second device may wait for a period of time, determine all discovery requests received within the period of time, and determine whether there are overlapping discovery requests.

Step 1403, if the first application and the second application overlap, the second device determines the device corresponding to the first application as the device corresponding to the second application.

For example, when the second device first obtains the first discovery request of the first application and determines the device corresponding to the first application according to the first discovery request, if the second device obtains the second discovery request of the second application again and the second discovery request overlaps with the first discovery request, the second device may determine the device corresponding to the first application as the device corresponding to the second application.

In another example, when the second device first obtains the first discovery request of the first application and executes the device discovery method according to the first discovery request, if the second device obtains the second discovery request of the second application again and the second discovery request overlaps with the first discovery request, the second device may determine, after the device discovery method corresponding to the first discovery request is ended, the device corresponding to the first application as the device corresponding to the second application.

In another example, when the second device obtains the first discovery request of the first application and the second discovery request of the second application at the same time, and the second discovery request overlaps with the first discovery request, the second device may perform the device discovery method according to the first discovery request, determine the device corresponding to the first application, and determine the device corresponding to the first application as the device corresponding to the second application.

Step 1404, the second device combines the first discovery request and the second discovery request into one discovery request.

For example, taking the case that the first discovery request is used to request discovery of the internet access device of the SLB, and the second discovery request is used to request discovery of the screen-throwable device of the SLB, the merged discovery request may be used to request discovery of the SLB device.

Step 1405, the second device scans the first message broadcasted by the first device through the corresponding access technology according to the merged discovery request.

The corresponding access technology may be an access technology corresponding to the first application and the second application at the same time.

Step 1406, the second device filters the first message according to the merged filtering policy, and determines the filtered devices as the device corresponding to the first application and the device corresponding to the second application.

In one possible design, the merged filtering policy is a filtering policy obtained by merging a filtering policy corresponding to the first application and a filtering policy corresponding to the second application.

The second device may determine a filtering policy corresponding to the first application according to the first discovery request, determine a filtering policy corresponding to the second application according to the second discovery request, and combine the filtering policy corresponding to the first application and the filtering policy corresponding to the second application to be used as a filtering policy for filtering the first message.

For example, taking a first discovery request for requesting to discover a device on which an SLB is connected to a network, a second discovery request for requesting to discover a device on which an SLB is connected to a screen, the second device may determine that a filtering policy corresponding to the first application may be a device that supports a specific service or capability that supports an SLB access technology and supports internet access, determine that a filtering policy corresponding to the second application is a device that supports a specific service or capability that supports an SLB access technology and supports screen connection, and after combining the filtering policy corresponding to the first application and the filtering policy corresponding to the second application, determine that a combined filtering policy is a device that supports a specific service or capability that supports an SLB access technology.

In another possible design, the filtering policy is a filtering policy corresponding to the merged discovery request.

Wherein the second device may determine the filtering policy according to the merged discovery request. For example, taking the case that the first discovery request is used to request discovery of an internet access device of an SLB, and the second discovery request is used to request discovery of a screen-throwable device of the SLB, the second device may determine that the merged discovery request is used to request discovery of the SLB device, and then determine that the filtering policy corresponding to the merged discovery request is a device that discovers a specific service or capability, where the specific service or capability is a device that supports an SLB access technology.

For example, as shown in fig. 15, taking the second device as a mobile phone, and taking an example that the first application in the mobile phone issues the first discovery request for searching the internet access device of the SLB, and the second application issues the screen projection device of the SLB, the basic communication service framework module in the mobile phone may combine the first discovery request and the second discovery request into one discovery request for searching the SLB device, and issue the combined discovery request to the device discovery module. The device discovery module converts the received discovery request into a discovery request which can be received by the access layer and sends the discovery request to the access layer. And the access layer scans the first message by adopting an SLB access technology according to the discovery request and reports the scanned first message to the equipment discovery module. And the equipment discovery module filters the first message according to the combined filtering strategy and reports the filtered first message to the basic communication service framework module. And the basic communication service framework module determines the SLB internet equipment as equipment corresponding to the first application and reports the SLB internet equipment to the first application according to the equipment corresponding to the first message, and determines the SLB screen projection equipment as equipment corresponding to the second application and reports the SLB screen projection equipment to the second application.

For example, as shown in fig. 16, taking the first device including router 1, router 2, router 3, and smart screen, and the second device being a mobile phone as an example, router 1 may broadcast first message 1, router 2 may broadcast first message 2, router 3 may broadcast first message 3, and smart screen may broadcast first message 4, and assuming that the first messages scanned by the access layer of the second device include first message 1, first message 2, first message 3, and first message 4, the access layer may report first message 1, first message 2, first message 3, and first message 4 to the device discovery module. Assuming that the router 1 and the router 2 are SLB internet devices and the smart screen is an SLB screen-capable device, the device discovery module may filter the first message 1, the first message 2, and the first message 4 according to the merge filtering policy and report the filtered messages to the basic communication service framework module. The basic communication service framework module determines the router 1 and the router 2 as equipment corresponding to the first application according to the first message 1 and the first message 2 and reports the equipment to the first application; and according to the first message 4, determining the smart screen as the equipment corresponding to the second application and reporting the equipment to the second application.

Step 1407, the second device determines a device corresponding to the first application according to the first discovery request; and determining the equipment corresponding to the second application according to the second discovery request.

When the first discovery request and the second discovery request do not overlap, the second device may execute the device discovery method shown in fig. 12, and determine the device corresponding to the first application according to the first discovery request. The second device may also execute the device discovery method shown in fig. 12, and determine a device corresponding to the second application according to the second discovery request.

Based on the method shown in fig. 14, when the second device obtains discovery requests of multiple applications, the second device may arbitrate and merge the discovery requests of the multiple applications, so as to reduce the number of times that the second device executes the device discovery method, and reduce the power consumption of the second device.

Further, the second device may set a label for the application according to an application requirement of each application, and may subsequently distribute the device discovery result to each application according to the label.

Wherein the device discovery result may include the device determined by the infrastructure communication service framework module of the second device from the first message.

Wherein, the labels corresponding to the applications with overlapped discovery requests can be the same.

For example, taking an application including a first application, a second application, and a third application as an example, assuming that a first discovery request of the first application overlaps with a second discovery request of the second application, and a third discovery request of the third application does not overlap with the first discovery request and the second discovery request, the second device may set a first tag for the first application and the second application and a second tag for the third application. When the second device executes the device discovery method and determines one or more devices according to the first discovery request or the second discovery request, the determined one or more devices may be reported to an application corresponding to the first tag (e.g., the first application, the second application, or an application whose tag is the first tag) according to the first tag. When the second device executes the device discovery method and determines one or more devices according to the third discovery request, the determined one or more devices may be reported to an application corresponding to the second tag according to the second tag (for example, a third application or an application with a tag as the second tag).

The scheme provided by the embodiment of the application is introduced mainly from the point of interaction between devices. It is understood that each device comprises corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for performing each function in order to realize the functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the present application is capable of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software implementing the various illustrative algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, functional modules may be divided according to the above method examples, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the module is schematic, and is only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

In the case of dividing each functional module by corresponding functions, fig. 17 shows a communication apparatus 170, when the communication apparatus 170 is used for being discovered by other devices, the communication apparatus 170 may perform the actions performed by the first device in fig. 7 to 16, and when the communication apparatus 170 is used for discovering other devices, the communication apparatus 170 may perform the actions performed by the second device in fig. 7 to 16.

The communication device 170 may include a transceiver module 1701 and a processing module 1702. The communication device 170 may be a communication device, or may be a chip applied in the communication device, or other combined devices, components, and the like having the functions of the communication device. When the communication device 170 is a communication device, the transceiver module 1701 may be a transceiver, which may include an antenna, a radio frequency circuit, and the like; the processing module 1702 may be a processor (or processing circuitry), such as a baseband processor, which may include one or more CPUs therein. When the communication device 170 is a component having the above-described communication device function, the transceiver module 1701 may be a radio frequency unit; the processing module 1702 may be a processor (or processing circuit), such as a baseband processor. When the communication device 170 is a chip system, the transceiver module 1701 may be an input-output interface of a chip (e.g., a baseband chip); the processing module 1702 may be a processor (or processing circuit) of a system-on-chip, and may include one or more central processing units. It should be understood that the transceiver module 1701 in the embodiment of the present application may be implemented by a transceiver or transceiver-related circuit components; the processing module 1702 may be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component (alternatively referred to as a processing circuit).

For example, the transceiver module 1701 may be used to perform all of the transceiving operations performed by the communication device in the embodiments illustrated in fig. 7-16, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein; processing module 1702 may be used to perform all operations performed by a communication device in the embodiments shown in fig. 7-16, except for transceiving operations, and/or other processes to support the techniques described herein.

As yet another implementation, the transceiver module 1701 in fig. 17 may be replaced by a transceiver, which may integrate the functions of the transceiver module 1701; the processing module 1702 may be replaced by a processor, which may integrate the functions of the processing module 1702. Further, the communication device 170 shown in fig. 17 may further include a memory. When the transceiver module 1701 is replaced by a transceiver and the processor module 1702 is replaced by a processor, the communication device 170 according to the embodiment of the present application may be the communication device shown in fig. 6.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer readable storage medium. All or part of the processes in the above method embodiments may be performed by a computer program instructing related hardware, where the program may be stored in the above computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, the program may include the processes in the above method embodiments. The computer-readable storage medium may be an internal storage unit of the terminal (including the data sending end and/or the data receiving end) of any previous embodiment, for example, a hard disk or a memory of the terminal. The computer readable storage medium may also be an external storage device of the terminal, such as a plug-in hard disk, a Smart Memory Card (SMC), a Secure Digital (SD) card, a flash memory card (flash card), and the like, which are provided on the terminal. Further, the computer-readable storage medium may include both an internal storage unit and an external storage device of the terminal. The computer-readable storage medium stores the computer program and other programs and data required by the terminal. The above-described computer-readable storage medium may also be used to temporarily store data that has been output or is to be output.

It should be noted that the terms "first" and "second" and the like in the description, claims and drawings of the present application are used for distinguishing different objects and not for describing a particular order. Furthermore, the terms "include" and "have," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements listed, but may alternatively include other steps or elements not listed, or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

It should be understood that in the present application, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more, "at least two" means two or three and three or more, "and/or" for describing an association relationship of associated objects, meaning that three relationships may exist, for example, "a and/or B" may mean: only A, only B and both A and B are present, wherein A and B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", wherein a, b, c may be single or plural.

Through the above description of the embodiments, it is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and simplicity of description, the foregoing division of the functional modules is merely used as an example, and in practical applications, the above function distribution may be completed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device may be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the above described functions.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described device embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the modules or units is only one logical functional division, and there may be other divisions when actually implemented, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another device, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may be one physical unit or a plurality of physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed in a plurality of different places. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application may be essentially or partially contributed to by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solutions may be embodied in the form of a software product, where the software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to enable a device (which may be a single chip, a chip, or the like) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various media capable of storing program codes.

The above description is only an embodiment of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present disclosure should be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A device discovery method, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that first equipment obtains request information of first application; wherein the request information is used for indicating a discoverable level of the first device;

the first equipment determines an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the first application;

the first equipment broadcasts a first message through an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the request information; wherein the first message includes first indication information indicating a discoverable level of the first device.

2. The method of claim 1,

the discoverable grade comprises one or more of: device discovery that the device desires to be paired, device discovery that the device desires to be assigned an address or service set identification SSID, device discovery that the device desires to be supported for a particular service or capability, device not discoverable, device generally discoverable, device preferentially discoverable.

3. The method of claim 2,

the first message further comprises one or more of: identification information of the devices that have been paired, a specified address or SSID, a particular service or capability.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the determining, by the first device, the access technology corresponding to the first application according to the first application comprises:

and the first equipment determines an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the application requirement and/or the service type of the first application.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

the first message further comprises second indication information; wherein the second indication information is used for indicating whether the first message is a polling broadcast message.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein when the first message is a polling broadcast message, the method further comprises:

the first device receiving a polling response from a second device;

and the first device discovers the second device according to the polling response.

7. A device discovery method, comprising:

the second equipment acquires a first discovery request of the first application; the first discovery request is used for requesting to discover equipment corresponding to the first application;

the second equipment determines an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the first application;

the second device scans a first message broadcast by the first device through an access technology corresponding to the first application; wherein the first message comprises first indication information indicating a discoverable level of the first device;

and the second equipment filters the first message according to the filtering strategy corresponding to the first application, and determines the equipment corresponding to the first application.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining, by the second device, the access technology corresponding to the first application according to the first application comprises:

and the second equipment determines the access technology corresponding to the first application according to the application requirement and/or the service type of the first application.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8,

the discoverable grade comprises one or more of: device discovery that the device desires to be paired, device discovery that the device desires to be assigned an address or service set identification SSID, device discovery that the device desires to be supported a specified service or capability, device not discoverable, device generally discoverable, device priority discoverable.

10. The method of claim 9,

11. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 10,

the filtering strategy includes one or more of: discovery of devices that have been paired, discovery of devices that specify an address or SSID, discovery of devices that support a particular service or capability, discovery of devices within a particular range, no filtering enabled, discovery of discoverable devices, discovery of prioritized devices.

12. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 11,

13. The method of claim 12, wherein when the first message is a polling broadcast message, the method further comprises:

and when the second equipment determines that the first equipment is the equipment corresponding to the first application, the second equipment sends a polling response to the first equipment.

14. The method according to any one of claims 7-13, further comprising:

the second device acquires a second discovery request of a second application; the second discovery request is used for requesting to discover equipment corresponding to the second application;

the second device determining whether the first discovery request overlaps with the second discovery request;

if the first application is overlapped with the second application, the second device determines the device corresponding to the first application as the device corresponding to the second application; or

The second device merging the first discovery request and the second discovery request into one discovery request; scanning a first message broadcasted by the first device through an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the combined discovery request; and filtering the first message according to a combined filtering strategy, and determining the filtered equipment as the equipment corresponding to the first application and the equipment corresponding to the second application, wherein the combined filtering strategy is a filtering strategy obtained by combining the filtering strategy corresponding to the first application and the filtering strategy corresponding to the second application, or the combined filtering strategy is a filtering strategy corresponding to the combined discovery request.

15. The method according to any one of claims 7-14, further comprising:

the second equipment determines a first label according to the first application; wherein, the labels corresponding to the applications with overlapped requests are the same;

and the second equipment filters the first message according to a filtering strategy corresponding to the first application, and determines the filtered equipment as equipment corresponding to the application indicated by the first label.

16. A communications apparatus, comprising:

the receiving and sending module is used for acquiring request information of the first application; wherein the request information is used for indicating a discoverable level of the first device;

the processing module is used for determining an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the first application;

the transceiver module is further configured to broadcast a first message through an access technology corresponding to the first application according to the request information; wherein the first message includes first indication information indicating a discoverable level of the first device.

17. A communications apparatus, comprising:

the receiving and sending module is used for acquiring a first discovery request of a first application; the first discovery request is used for requesting to discover equipment corresponding to the first application;

the transceiver module is further configured to scan a first message broadcast by a first device through an access technology corresponding to the first application; wherein the first message comprises first indication information indicating a discoverable level of the first device;

the processing module is further configured to filter the first message according to a filtering policy corresponding to the first application, and determine a device corresponding to the first application.

18. A communications apparatus, comprising a processor; the processor configured to execute a computer program or instructions to cause a device discovery method according to any one of claims 1-6 to be performed, or a device discovery method according to any one of claims 7-15 to be performed.

19. A communication device, comprising a processor and a communication interface; the communication interface is coupled to the processor for executing a computer program or instructions to cause the device discovery method according to any of claims 1-6 to be performed or the device discovery method according to any of claims 7-15 to be performed, the communication interface being for communicating with other modules than the communication apparatus.

20. A communication apparatus, characterized in that the communication apparatus comprises an interface circuit for inputting and/or outputting information and a logic circuit for performing the device discovery method according to any of claims 1-6 or performing the device discovery method according to any of claims 7-15, processing and/or generating the information in dependence on the information.

21. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions or a program which, when run on a computer, causes the device discovery method of any one of claims 1-6 to be performed, or the device discovery method of any one of claims 7-15 to be performed.

22. A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product comprises computer instructions; the computer instructions, when executed in part or in whole on a computer, cause the device discovery method of any one of claims 1-6 to be performed, or the device discovery method of any one of claims 7-15 to be performed.